DA: 7-Eleven Victim, Gunman Knew Each Other

The man who fatally shot 28-year-old Jeffrey Kelly outside the 7-Eleven on Centre Street in Jamaica Plain in August knew his victim, according to the district attorney’s office.

Amos Carrasquillo, 28, of Dorchester, was held without bail at his arraignment Friday, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley. He has been charged with first-degree murder and unlawful possession of a firearm. Carrasquillo was initially arrested on an unrelated federal probation warrant and taken into custody on the murder charge Thursday by Boston Police at the John Joseph Moakley Federal Courthouse.

According to Assistant DA Julie Higgins of the DA’s Homicide Unit, Carrasquillo and Kelly were known to each other, and Carrasquillo had allegedly “shown signs of hostility toward the victim in the days preceding the Aug. 27 homicide,” according to the DA’s office.

An investigation by Boston Police homicide detectives and Suffolk County prosecutors revealed that Carrasquillo had allegedly threatened and physically assaulted Kelly, who used a wheelchair and was considered a “habitue” of the 7-Eleven at the intersection of Centre Street and South Huntington Avenue.

Further, police say that Carrasquillo was in the area of the convenience store for several hours prior to the homicide, at one point trailing Kelly in a vehicle. When Kelly went into the store, prosecutors say, Carrasquillo shot him as he exited, killing him, at around 3:30 a.m.

Surveillance footage, phone records, witness statements and additional evidence point to Carrasquillo, according to Higgins, who added that ballistics evidence at the scene suggested a single gun fired by a single shooter.

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